- The Pontchaillou CHU in Rennes has started to reschedule the postponed surgical procedures due to the coronavirus epidemic.
- Doctors had to reassure patients because many feared coming to the hospital for fear of being infected.
- Among the hospital staff, only 70 of the 9,000 staff were affected by the epidemic, or less than 1% of the staff. "This proves that the measures are effective."
The intensive care unit at the Rennes University Hospital is almost empty. Thursday evening, there were only 37 patients with Covid-19 in the walls of the largest hospital in Brittany. Only seven were still in intensive care, five of them from medical evacuations carried out in March from Ile-de-France. Relatively spared by the epidemic, Brittany will, like a large part of France, deconfinate itself on Monday. Will it be hit by a second wave? No one can say. At the CHU Pontchaillou, the teams say they are ready but want to take advantage of the lull offered by confinement to reschedule the surgical procedures postponed due to the epidemic of coronavirus.
For several days, doctors, caregivers and secretaries have therefore called their patients one by one in order to offer them a new date to operate on them. A considerable undertaking since 2,000 acts had been postponed. On the phone, caregivers had to be pedagogical to ensure that returning to the hospital was not a danger. “Some patients were extremely reluctant to come to the CHU. They were afraid of coming into a place of active circulation of the virus. We had to work to reassure them, ”says Professor Gilles Brassier.
"It proves that the measures are effective"
To convince, the president of the Pontchaillou establishment medical commission puts forward a weighty argument. “None of the caregivers in the departments most exposed to coronavirus (resuscitation and continuing care) have contracted the virus. This proves that the protective measures taken by our staff are effective. ” Within the establishment, only 70 of the 9,000 staff were infected with Covid-19 and none were hospitalized.
For Professor Brassier, it is now urgent for the hospital to return to its "normal" activity. "In many disciplines, we have seen pathologies diagnosed at a very late stage". For fear of the virus, people who suffered a heart attack or suffering from appendicitis did not consult. “We faced complication rates that no longer existed. The consequences can be serious. ”
To welcome its patients in the best possible sanitary conditions, the staff of the CHU has implemented important protective measures. Each person will be submitted to a health questionnaire prior to their arrival. Once in the hospital, she will have to wear a mask and go through two levels of control: one at the entrance to the buildings and the other before entering the consultation. “The level of circulation of the virus is very low. It is very reasonable to resume our activities. It is essential that the population feels reassured ”, estimates professor Pierre Tatevin, infectiologist at the CHU of Rennes.
What if the epidemic resumes because of deconfinement? "We will be able to reorganize quickly," promises the director of the establishment Véronique Anatole-Touzet.
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